Indeed it did, but not in the capacity of a watchdog, rather as a
subservient lapdog
to the nuclear industry’s propaganda and the whims of this pronuclear
administration. The first speaker was Eric Robson, Chair of Cumbria
Tourism whose response to a question on the sustainability of over 4
million gallons of freshwater being abstracted every day to cool existing
nuclear waste said, “ perfectly sustainable and I support new nuclear
build, not wind farms.”

This was responded to from the floor by a poem written by a former
Sellafield worker, now under Sellafield's Radiation Linked Diseases
Compensation
Scheme.

“For nuclear waste growing bigger and hotter
they're sucking the life from Lakeland and Otter,
cooling the poison they've shipped from afar
condemning the angler and Arctic Char.

"What's the harm? There's water aplenty!"
Say the loudest mouths with heads near empty,
while for son and daughter the waters spoil
cooling waste in the kettle I fear will boil…”

( the kettle was hours away from boiling on 1st April when there was a
stoppage of cooling water to the High Level Waste Tanks)


Lord Chris Smith of the Environment Agency was next up. He spoke of
inevitable sea level rises and falling river levels but when questioned on
nuclear said he “reluctantly supports new build.” This is not an
acceptable position for the Chair of a supposedly neutral government
agency charged with protecting our environment.
The Chair of the Northwest Regional Development Agency, Brian Gray was
even more gung ho in his support for the “most sensible” option of nuclear
new build. It is increasingly apparent that all the water bailiffs have
turned into poachers, stealing our most precious resource – fresh water
( literally- it was revealed in answer to a Freedom of Information
Request to Radiation Free Lakeland that the nuclear industry pays no
fresh water bill for its Wastwater abastraction) .

If only someone had listened to the financial crisis whistleblowers -
living beyond our means is one thing - beyond the means of future
generations is a kind of arrogant insanity.

Ironically a recent report by economists said "It is increasingly clear
that the era
of cheap and easy access to water is ending, posing a potentially greater
threat to businesses than the loss of any other natural resource,
including fossil fuel resources," it adds. "This is because there are
various alternatives for oil, but for many industrial processes, and for
human survival itself, there is no substitute for water." (Pacific
Institute)

The economists are spot on - for human survival itself, there is no
substitute for water.



Notes:

nuclear disaster 5 times worse than Chernobyl averted
 http://www.shutsellafield.com/

Lakes for Living – Lakes for Life
 http://www.lakesforliving.com/

Pacific Institute : Water 'more important than oil' businesses told
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/26/water-drought